"No Puedes Caber!"....That's what she said.

So this is my last blog entry for a weekend adventure that I've had in Guatemala. It's been pretty crazy down here for the past 4 weeks and of course it just gets crazier right? This past weekend we lost a lot of good friends as they split their separate ways to go back to the United States. I already talked about Kristen's situation but we also lost Kina, Megan, Shannon and Nick. The rest of us decided to spend one last adventure in Tikal and the Mayan Ruins and so away we went!

Friday, June 27:
Christina, Chris, Pai, Lisa, Liam and myself got up pretty early to head out to Antigua so that we could go and pay the travel agency that we were using to head up to Tikal. Just a fair warning to those of you who want to travel in Guatemala...everything must be done up front and in CASH. None of this messin around with credit cards stuff. Cash gets stuff done. So yea, we had lunch at Pollo Campero (aka KFC) and then hung out in Antigua most of the day just walking around until we hopped on our shuttle out to Guatemala City. We got to Guatemala City and immediately we thought it was a dump. We were pretty depressed by it haha. There was blood all over the men's bathroom and it was a little scary. But anyway, we were supposed to leave at 915pm but our travel agent booked us on a 1015 bus instead up to Tikal and so we had to wait an extra hour. We were not happy campers...But we finally got on the bus and when we did it was pretty much the most excruciatingly painful experience I think I've ever had on a bus. Very uncomfortable, very hot and I got about 0 hours of sleep in the 9 hours we had to travel from Guatemala City to Tikal. Way to start off the trip?

Saturday, June 28:
We arrived in Flores at approximately 7am which is the small little tourist town next to Tikal where you can shuttle over to the Mayan Ruins. This is where the entire trip went downhill for me. As I was getting off the bus, I went to reach into my bookbag to find my wallet only to find that it wasn't there. I looked everywhere for it and it was gone. Someone stole it. I think that someone grabbed it while I was attempting to sleep on the bus and without me looking just got the wallet and when we landed in Flores, took off. They got all my remaining cash and my credit card, drivers license, insurance card and UNC ID. So I was pretty pissed. To add to that, our shuttle to take us to our hotel in Tikal hadn't arrived so we were freaking out about that. So while I was cancelling credit cards and talking back home with my parents we finally got a shuttle and miraculously ended up at our hotel in Tikal. The hotel itself was pretty nice and it was good to relax for a bit before we started up our tour. Our tour guide's name was Nixon and he had the craziest hair I think I've seen in Guatemala. But anyway, he took us on this great tour of the temples and told us about some of the hieroglyphics that are on the structures and what they mean. We got to climb Temple IV which was where they shot the Star Wars scene for the Ewoks and then we went through Mundo Perdido which shows the equinox and solstice that the Mayans marked and then we climbed Temple V to get a great view of the rest of the complex which was INSANE. We pretty much climbed a wooden ladder on the side of the temple to a height of about 200 ft. Then we checked out the rest of the Grand Plaza which is where most of those pictures you guys see in postcard comes from. Overall it was amazing and the pictures we have are really good...they'll be posted soon I promise. After the tour, we had a really good lunch at the park and by the time everything was done we were EXHAUSTED. After a quick dip in the pool we all passed out and woke up in time for dinner. After dinner we just hung out some more in the rooms and went to bed to wake up again the next morning...

Sunday, June 29:
So at approximately 430am, all of us but Chris got up to do the sunrise tour off the top of Temple IV since it had the best view of the park. We didn't want to pay an entrance fee to get into Tikal so we attempted to take a shortcut through the back of our hotel and straight into the jungle and hopefully the path that lead to Temple IV. It took a little bit of time but we made it through safely without paying! (Yay for being poor med students). But Christina swears that she heard a jaguar while we were walking through so that was a little creepy. But we got up to the Temple where we saw...not such a great view haha. It was a little foggy but we did get to see a little bit of sun. The great part about it all though was the sounds you could hear from the jungle. You could see and hear howler monkeys, definitely see lots of birds and then hear jaguars in the distance. It was pretty amazing. After the sunrise tour, I came back to pass out because I was still pretty tired while Pai, Chris and Liam went exploring the park some more. They went to Temple VI and then back to the Grand Plaza to see a Triathalon that was taking place. After all of this, we came back to the hotel, had lunch and watched Spain whoop that ASS on Germany (Sorry for you Alemania fans). Then we headed back to Flores so that we could catch our bus back to Guatemala City. In Flores, we ended up at this tiny bar full of mosquitoes where we unhappily drank gross beer (Dont drink Brahva) and played cards. But then we decided to go to a good dinner place where they served authentic Mayan foods and it was DELICIOUS. We also met up with Kina and Megan who were passing through on their way to Tikal so that was nice to see them. After all of that we ended back up at the bus station ready to board our bus back home.

Sunday/Monday June 30:
The bus back home was a complete polar opposite of the way up. It was FREEZING in the bus with the air conditioning on full blast. Also, since we didnt fall asleep on the way up, Lisa Chris and Christina thought it'd be good to take some Lunesta and pass out. Which they did haha. I was too paranoid about my wallet so I stayed up and protected my passport with my LIFE. So I didn't get much sleep. However the joke of the trip did happen during this ride back to the Capital. Lisa took 3 Lunesta pills, 3 mg a piece. Basically she was completely woozy and out of it. But she was still apparently coherent enough to talk to the driver and attempt to tell him to turn off the air conditioning by saying, "Es possible...caliente?" And then she got off the bus during a quick break and just pointed at the luggage storage on the bottom of the bus and said "Es possible...*point*". I got out to help her ask for her pants but the driver took it as us wanting to actually physically go underneath the bus and stay there. Hence, "No puedes caber!". It was hilarious haha. But anyway, we got back to Guatemala City safe and sound, we hopped on a shuttle back to Antigua and then said our goodbyes to Pai and she left us to go back home to the States. The rest of us then came back to Santa Cruz where we PASSED out but still welcomed 3 new students:
-Jordi, junior at Davidson
-Tori, MS2 at Baylor
-Caitlin, MS2 at Baylor

I haven't decided if I should haze them or not yet. Probably won't haha. But that's basically the update for the weekend! A little bit more of bad news and because of my wallet loss I am now coming home on July 6th since I have no money. Christina is my sugar mama and being my personal ATM. She says she'll break my legs if I don't pay her back...and I believe it. But anyway - I will leave you all with a little bit of information I learned at Trivia Night:

A male penguin has 1 orgasm a year.

Hope everyone's doing well and having a good summer!
Nos vemos pronto,
Neil